Monday, November 30, 2009

i am so excited to tell you that i redesigned the felt cafe japan shop, and it's now right there on the felt cafe japan website. also, it's full of these wonderful wooden block sets from muji! the supply of these wooden cities (and countries, and modes of transportation) in a bag is severely limited.kyoto, including daimonji mountains.tokyo, with the tokyo tower, and the temple with the big lantern in asakusa.new york, love the guggenheim.london, including the gerkin.barcelona has the barcelona pavillion by mies! love it.italy, including fiats and gondolas.railroad stationand safari animals, in the cleverest little habitat box ever.

it was fun to do a little web design, and i have to give a shout out to squarespace. even though i am an abject beginner, eventually i could figure out what was and was not possible, and how to make what i wanted, and in the end feel like i learned something. woot.

and, today is my last day of daily posting for november! i did it! any other nablopomo folks out there? i really have enjoyed getting into the habit of daily posting, maybe i will try to keep it going for december. i feel like i have 30 more posts in the back of my head already!

Sunday, November 29, 2009

i'm loving these gingerbread house designs printed by sam of inklore. not only are they available as ornaments, but be sure to visit her shop to see them on tea towels and reusable linen gift bags. and there's a free shipping sale at inklore through monday!

Thursday, November 26, 2009

i'm thankful to have this chance to live in japan, and for the many opportunities that i am so very lucky to have.

i'm thankful for my wonderful friends and family, and the ability to keep in touch and feel close to people that i care about, even though i am thousands of miles away.

today it's thanksgiving day in the u.s., and for those of you who celebrate it, i hope you have a lovely time gathered with family or friends to share a special meal.

i had a little mini vacation this week (i'm thankful that i have the freedom to do that too!) filled with local sightseeing, cooking and learning and eating, shopping and maple leaf viewing, and more eating, and even a japanese thanksgiving dinner! and i will tell you all about it soon, i promise, as soon as i get caught up on a few things around here.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

recently, i have been loving little japanese craft books, almost more like booklets. as you can guess they are smaller than regular craft books, but can have some adorable and useful projects in them, nonetheless! this one is about making felt flowers using needle felting.it has simple instructions (with photos, patterns, and diagrams of course) showing how to make the petal shapes for different flowers, and how to then put the flowers together. flickr set here.

this little book is full of patterns for hand carved stamps, which are quite a popular craft in japan.the designs are all simple, but they are very cute. flickr set here.and this little book is a glossary of crochet stitches (don't be fooled by the english word knitting on the cover), including symbols, photos, and how-to diagrams for 60 stitches. so useful when i was trying to learn beginning crochet and japanese charting at the same time! flickr set here.

i just added these 3 little books to my shop. although the stamp design one has sold out, more copies will be on their way, and as always i can reserve one just for you.

maybe because of these flowers from the book i posted about yesterday,or maybe these...when i saw these lovely felt flower medallians from kutz on etsy, via indefixx via bloesem, i was reminded of a few felt flower artists i found back when i was putting together the felt flower girl basket last summer.made by uberhottie

Saturday, November 21, 2009

i am so inspired by this book. maybe it's just my recent fascination with embroidery combined with my long love of felt, but i think the combination is brilliant. just added to the shop.

i've tried something similar on my own several years ago, but this method (these are the how-to photos from the book) show a very precise process of needlefelting directly onto the fabric, and then applying some soap and water to get a more smoothly felted surface...and then the final details and touches with the felting needle.

there are so many detailed and colorful projects; there's a full flickr set here:http://www.flickr.com/photos/feltcafe/sets/72157622847355110/i want to try this technique as soon as possible, maybe on something with a holiday theme...

Friday, November 20, 2009

recently, i've been quite busy. but this weekend i have plans to do a big shop update...and share a whole bunch of new items that i haven't had time to photograph during the limited number of daylight hours i've been at home...and restock my shop with other things that have been flying out of it!and get ready for next week, when i have a craft-loving friend coming to visit me! we going to take a japanese cooking class here in kyoto, and make thanksgiving dinner (and maybe thanksgiving bento in the unlikely event of leftovers) and visit some pretty places. and maybe have some time to relax at the kotatsu and do some knitting.and maybe, i'll even get to the craft project i've had rolling around in the back of my head to use these chirstmas masking tapes! ahh, i can dream, can't i?

Thursday, November 19, 2009

this is an image of a traditional chinese feng shui compass, gocco printed on a moleskine notebook by bamboo village press on etsy. everything you buy from her shop goes to a fund to help keep kids in school in sichuan, china.

the kanji that i should be studying right now is actually the japanese variety, which is quite different than chinese, although of course they are related. and probably a little more feng shui in my life wouldn't hurt either.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

this new issue (vol. 10) of the japanese magazine stitch ideas or sutichi idées is perfect for inspiring all sorts of plans for stitching projects. these are just a few photos from this magazine, which is seriously chalk full of wonderful projects. full flickr set here.i especially love the ones that are from fairy tales,and everything that's embroidered on linen (lots!)and these sweet little red cross stitch ornaments.

it's in my shop for now, but i wanted to remind you all that if something is temporarily sold out, i can usually get another one for you!

Monday, November 16, 2009

last sunday was the handmade market at chionji, held on on the 15th of every month. more info about markets in kyoto here, on felt cafe japan. this artist makes lovely bags, and also little sewn wallets, here.there were also some beautiful wood crafts, this is from ubdy,and i don't know anything more about this artist, but i love the little houses.